24 Jesus, Prophet of IslamAfter the death of Solomon, however, the kingdom of the Tribe
of Israel divided and split in two. The people of the southem king
dom, which was based in Iudah, became known as the Iudahites,
The people of the northem kingdom became known as the Israel
ites.
The Judahites, who eventually became known simply as 'the
[ews' - which was an abbreviation of either the word '[udahites'
or of the word 'Judeans' - comprised the tribes of Judah and Levi,
togetherwith sorne of the tribe of Benjamin. Theyconsideredthem
selves the true inheritors and guardians of the teachings of Moses
- although in fact Prophets, including Elijah and Elisha, were still
sent by God to the remaining nine and a hàlf tribes in the northern
kingdom of Israel.
In 722 BC, the northemkingdomof theIsraeliteswas over-run
by the Assyrians. According to [udahite historians, the nine and a
half tribes of the Tribe of Israel who comprised the Israelites were
almost totally annihilated, with the exception of sorne 27,000cap
tives who were taken off as slaves to Nineveh - which no longer
exists today, butwhich wassituatedon the banks ofthe river Tigris,
opposite the site of today's modern city of Mosul in northem Iraq.
The Israelites are then said to have subsequently ,disappeared from
history' - although even the Bible confirms that the Prophet [onah
was sent specifically to Nineveh to guide the captive Israelites there
aright, and according to the Qur'an, '100,000 people or more'
(Qur'an: 37.147), eventually accepted and followed him.
In 598 BC,KingNebuchadnezzarof Babyloninvadedthe south
em kingdom of the Judahites and took [erusalem. The Temple of
Solomon was left intact, but the treasure, both from the Temple
and from the royal palace, was appropriated by the new ruler
and so the Jews lost no tirne in rebelling against their Babylonian
overlord.This promptedanotherattack by Nebuchadnezzar,in 586
BC, in which the Temple and the city were destroyed. In the after
math of both of these invasions, a large number of [udahites were
taken back to Babylon as slaves, but unlike the Israelites of the
northem kingdom, they were not written out of history.
.~ The wheel of fortune took another tum, and the Persians, un
der Cyrus, conquered Babylon -partly as a result of the captive
Iews intriguing for the benefit of the invaders. Cyrus immediately
realised the danger of having such a large population of aliens in
Babylon, and asked them to leave and go back to [erusalem, where
they would be permitted to rebuild the Temple.
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